THE INCIDENCE OF DRUGS IN FATALLY INJURED DRIVERS

METHODS FOR THE COLLECTION OF BLOOD, URINE, BILE AND ALCOHOL WASHES OF FACE AND FINGERS FROM FATALLY INJURED DRIVERS WERE DEVELOPED. SPECIMENS WERE COLLECTED FROM THE ALCOHOL SAFETY ACTION PROJECT AREAS. THE SAMPLES WERE SUPPLIED BY CORONERS AND MEDICAL EXAMINERS FROM FATALLY INJURED DRIVERS WHO WERE DEAD ON ARRIVAL AT THE HOSPITALS. NINE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE SPECIMEN COLLECTION KITS WERE DISTRIBUTED TO 44 DIFFERENT AREAS. METHODS FOR ANALYSIS OF BLOOD, URINE AND BILE FOR 44 COMMONLY ABUSED DRUGS WERE DEVELOPED. THESE METHODS CONSISTED OF EXTRACTION OF THE FLUIDS, FOLLOWED BY A QUALITATIVE THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHIC SCREEN. ALCOHOL WASHES OF FACE AND FINGERS WERE EXAMINED FOR EVIDENCE OF MARIHUANA. THE ANALYTICAL RESULTS INDICATED THAT 51% OF THE DRIVERS HAD INGESTED ALCOHOL AND 33% OF THE DRIVERS WERE LEGALLY DRUNK (ALCOHOL CONTENT OF BLOOD GREATER THAN 0.15%) TWENTY-FOUR PERCENT OF THE SPECIMENS EXAMINED EVIDENCED THE PRESENCE OF DRUGS OTHER THAN ALCOHOL: 11% EVIDENCED DRUGS AND NO ALCOHOL; 13% EVIDENCED DRUGS AND ALCOHOL. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Midwest Research Institute

  425 Volker Boulevard
  Kansas City, MO  United States  64110-2299
• Authors:
  • Woodhouse, E J
• Publication Date: 1972-9

Media Info

• Pagination: 77 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohols; Blood alcohol levels; Driver performance; Drivers; Drugs; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Highway safety; Personnel performance; Urine
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224446
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 23 1974 12:00AM